Try Everything
by BelieveUnique
Summary: Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde have been friends for over a year now. Not just friends - Best friends. But do they really know everything about each other? When secrets unveil themselves, who is going to really stay true? A cute little story with elements of romance thrown in.
1. Secrets

**Hey, everyone! Chapter 1 of 'Try Everything' is finally up! I've been wanting to do a fic of this story ever since Zootopia came out, but haven't gotten around to it until now.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Love you all,**

 **~BelieveUnique :***

Chapter 1

~ **Judy** ~

Putting her tazer back in its holster, Judy strutted over to the police car, where the wolf sat in the back, growling. Nick slammed the door shut and clapped his hands together, leaning against the police vehicle.

"That was a pretty good one, don't you think?" Nick grinned and lowered his sunglasses, staring down at her.

Judy shrugged. "I guess so. Seemed pretty… good."

Nick nodded and took the glasses off, ruffling his hair. "We just gotta get back to home base now."

Judy snorted. "Home base?"

Raising his eyebrows, Nick crossed his arms. "Yeah, home base."

"Don't you mean Head Quarters?" Judy suppressed her laughter.

Nick nodded. "Head Quarters. Home base. Same thing."

Laughing, Judy shook her head. "No… not same thing."

It took a moment, but eventually Nick caught on to what she was saying. "You… are so immature sometimes. I never expected this from innocent little Carrots."

Scoffing, Judy leaned forward. "Innocent little Carrots? I can make a dirty joke every once in a while."

Nick rolled his eyes and kicked himself off the car, strutting to the driver's side of the car. "You didn't even make the joke, you just laughed at something I said." He shut the door behind him.

Judy crinkled her nose and ran up to the passenger's seat door, swinging it open and jumping in. "I did, too, make the joke. I do have a sense of humor."

Glancing at her, Nick started the engine and rolled down the snowy tundra road. "I didn't say that you didn't have a sense of humor, Carrots. You're just… less direct about it usually."

"Less direct about it?" Judy crossed her arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Nick shrugged. "It means that you're just not the type of person who goes out and parties or gets drunk, or, for that matter, thinks anything dirty in their pure, innocent mind." He raised his hand at the last part, as if it were some heavenly thing to have a pure, innocent mind.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Judy leaned forward at him, uncrossing her arms. "You don't really do that kind of stuff, do you?"

Nick simply adjusted his glasses.

Judy sat back in her seat. "I can't believe my best friend leads a second life I didn't even know about."

"Well, it isn't like I do it on a regular basis, Jude. But sometimes I go out to bars, or to parties. But the point is –"

"The point is that you don't even tell me these things and you've been my best friend for what, a year and a half now?" Judy frowned. "And why don't you invite _me_ along?"

Nick groaned. "You just don't seem like the type of person who would enjoy that, you know? Cute little country girl going out and drinking? I don't think so. You probably couldn't handle one beer."

Judy chuckled. "You would actually be surprised."

"Why are you laughing?" Nick sharply turned his head towards her. "You mean you have drunk before?" He gasped sarcastically. "Wow, I would have never expected this from you, Carrots. Completely reckless and irresponsible. Why hadn't you told me this before? We _have_ been friends for over a year." He leared at her, smirking. "Why didn't you invite me along?"

"Oh, shut up." Judy blushed and leaned into the seat, folding her arms once again. "I just don't know why you don't think I'm capable of all that stuff."

Nick sighed. "Judy, it just isn't you, okay? There isn't anything wrong with that. You're just… you."

Judy nodded, but she didn't really agree. Something about the way Nick was acting made her feel… weird. As if she wanted to impress him all of the sudden. And she felt jealous of all of the people who could be in Nick's life that she didn't even know about. Now that she thought about it, she really didn't know that much about Nick. Sure, he knew plenty about her – nearly everything, in fact. But she knew next to nothing about him. Nick was just not an open guy.

They stayed silent for a moment until Judy broke the silence. "You know, if we are going to be best friends, we need to know more about each other."

"What do you mean?" Nick asked, keeping his eyes on the road under his sunglasses.

"I mean that we shouldn't keep anything from each other anymore." Judy smiled. "That way we can trust each other more."

Nick shrugged. "I guess so." He shifted in his seat, obviously uncomfortable.

Judy leaned forward. "You need to promise to tell me what is going on, alright? You know I'm always here for you. We're best friends. I don't ever want you to feel alone."

A smile crept onto Nick's snout. "I don't ever feel alone, Carrots," he uttered, shifting the shades.


	2. Every Love

Chapter 2

~ **Nick** ~

Nick strolled up to the porch of the town house, paper bags in hand sunglasses still on his face. He waltzed up to the tall, townhouse door and opened the doorknob with his elbow, sliding into the dark living room. A television played in a nearby room – presumably Grandma's; she was the only one with a room on the main floor.

"I'm home!" He yelled through the house, travelling to the kitchen and placing the bags carefully on the dining room table. The fluorescent light fizzed and screamed as he switched it on, a signal that it was time to replace it.

A scurrying sound resonated from the stairs as a young fox flew down the steps and went to hug him. He raised his eyebrows as she squeezed him but said nothing.

"Grandma's been worried sick," Emmeline said, popping her hip. "You shouldn't stay out this late."

Nick shrugged. "I just got some groceries. I wasn't out that late."

She rolled her eyes. "Besides that, I need help with my homework." She sat down at the table and pulled some papers closer to her.

"What's the problem?" Nick pulled up a chair next to her and took off his shades, rubbing his eyes.

Emmeline pointed to question number four. "Well, you see, it SAYS that the sentence needs to be fixed, but I don't see anything wrong with it. And besides –"

"Who got these groceries?" The two turned around to face a woman, her once beautiful coat now dull and brown, and her figure turned less than flattering. The sour expression on her face didn't help at all, either. "Nick? I assume that's why you were out so late." She narrowed her eyes at him.

Nick smiled at her. "Nice to see you, too, Grandma." He turned back to Emmeline's grammar assignment while the old fox sat down at the table and picked up the newspaper. "Now, you see, Emme, this isn't a complete sentence because it's only a phrase. You have to have both a subject and a predicate, and this –" He was cut off yet again.

"What is it with young people nowadays?" She lowered the paper and gave Nick a square eye. "Back in my day, there was none of this inter-species marriage and all that. It's just wrong."

Breathing, Nick ignored her. "This phrase _has_ the subject. You need a predicate. Since the 'bike' is the subject, tell us what the bike is doing in the sentence." He got up from his chair next to Emme. "I'm making dinner."

"This isn't even a recent thing. It's been going on for years and years, ever since the prey have started taking all our jobs and trying to do things small folk can't do. But in _my_ time…"

"Do you want blueberries or strawberries in your salad, Grandma?" Nick clenched his teeth and tried not to snap at her. He knew that her discrimination of other species would never falter. She didn't realize that it was now perfectly normal to inter marry in species. Something about 'keeping the system clean'.

Grandma frowned and thought for a moment. "Raspberries. Now as I was saying, we need to keep the bloodlines _clean_." There it is.

"I'm putting raspberry vinaigrette on it, is that alright?" Nick was trying his hardest to be complacent, but it was very difficult with her behavior.

She nodded. "Yes. Anyways, I keep thinking that someday they're going to outlaw it again like they did when I was a little girl but…"

"Here's your salad." He slammed it down on the table, and she jumped a little.

"You're going to break my plates!" Grandma yelled.

 _Mom's plates_ , Nick thought in his head, but didn't say out loud. "I'm going out tonight. You can make your salad by yourself, right Emme?"

"Sure thing, Nick! Right after I'm finished with my homework." Emmeline beamed up at him.

He smiled. "Good. See ya'll tomorrow." Nick grabbed his glasses and straightened his tie, sauntering down the living room and out the door.


	3. Sick Day

**Okay! So! This chapter has seriously been a pain in my back! Not because of the specific chapter itself, but I have had to upload it and change it SO MANY TIMES. In the original chapter, I uploaded it wrong, so I had to go back and change some things, so if it's different, that's why.**

 **Hope you guys enjoy it with the changes!**

 **~Believe Unique~**

"Morning, Clauhausser!" Judy hopped past the entrance desk of the ZPD, smiling and waving.

Clauhausser beamed down at her, donut in hand. "Hello, cutie patootie Judy!" He took a bite of his donut. "What're you up to today?"

She shrugged. "Just, you know, going to work. I'm hoping to find some more leads on that Sahara Square case with Nick."

"Oh, well, he called in sick this morning." Clauhausser announced. "Didn't sound too good."

"What? He's sick?!" _We are going to get nowhere on this case!_ She thought, frustrated.

"Sorry, Judy! He'll probably be back tomorrow." He smiled at his box of donuts, picking one out with pink frosting and sprinkles. "Hey, you alright?"

Judy nodded, but inside her head was a complete mess. "Oh, yeah. I'm _great_!" She turned back to him. "You know what? I'm actually sick, too." Coughing, she looked up at Clauhausser with sad eyes. "I better get home."

Benny raised his eyebrow. "Judy, you're not sick! You just got here, and you're looking fine."

"Look," she walked up to the edge of the desk and placed her paw gingerly on the edge, looking up at him. "I haven't missed a day of work yet, and I've been here for, what, a year now? I'm just… really stressed right now. I know this is unprofessional, but I need a day off really bad. And if Nick isn't here, I'll be stuck in…" she gulped. "Parking duty."

The cheetah scratched his head, concerned. "I dunno, Judy. Chief Bogo seems like he is on one today."

"Remember that time I took the blame for the sprinkle mess in the break room?" Judy widened her eyes as much as she could.

Clauhausser nodded. "Yeah, I remember. I owe you big time for that." He gulped, knowing where this was going.

Judy smiled. "Well, consider this your favor to me. Your debt has been paid."

"Alright, fine, Judy." He winked. "It'll be our little secret."

"Our little secret." Judy replied, winking back and starting backwards towards the door. "Thanks, Benny, you're the best!"

"Nick, if you get my messages, please answer me. I'm pretty worried about you. Well, call me back if you get this message." Judy hung up for the millionth time and flopped her head onto her desk, covering her eyes. Why wasn't Nick answering? Did it have anything to do with yesterday? It wasn't even that big of a deal. Nick, you baby…

"But what if it was real? What if he actually was ill and in bed? Judy raised her head a bit, leaning on her elbows for support. "What is wrong with him!" She yelled, suddenly infuriated with everything.

"Hey, he didn't do anything wrong! Don't blame him. Never blame him!" "Just let her be mad for once! Men have lots of things wrong with them!" "Are you saying there's something wrong with me?" "Shut up!" "You shut up!" "You shut up!" "Shut up!"

Judy groaned at her neighbor's antics, but by now she was quite used to them. It was strange to be in her own apartment in the middle of the day, and she felt a little bit guilty for skipping out on work. Sighing, she looked at her furPhone. No new messages, as expected.

If I'm going to skip work I might as well do something useful with my day instead of worrying about Nick. She thought, sitting up straighter. emIn fact, I'm not going to think about him at all. Boy, would that be hard. Judy shook her head. She wasn't going to think about Nick once today. Or his secret life, or why he wasn't at work. Today would be all about her.

She rose from her chair and trotted over to her wardrobe (she'd gotten it last summer at a yard sale, but it was still in relatively good shape), pulling out a cute red dress and changing from her police outfit. She looked at herself in the mirror and breathed in slowly, taking it all in. _I'm_ actually _skipping work._ Excitedly, she pulled out her phone, wondering what she should do on her 'day off'. She just then noticed her paw and how gross her nails were and ruffled her nose. _Well, that's a start_. Going to the browser, she smiled and started typing.


	4. Past Mistakes

Chapter 4

 **~Nick~**

"Is anyone here?" Nick yelled into the pitch black room. He struggled once again with his restraints, but to no avail. He hung his head and sighed, wondering what he'd done this time. It wasn't every day you wake up tied to a chair in a dark room.

A little beam of light shone in the room as Nick heard a door creak open, and then it was gone as soon as it came. He heard shuffling to his right, and then to his left, and then suddenly, he felt pressure on top of his legs.

Nick sucked in a breath as he caught a familiar scent. Lily Musk, that's what it was called. A bubble caught halfway up his throat and he coughed, breathing heavily.

"M-Mellissa?" Nick whispered, too scared to say anything else.

A laugh echoed, and he heard the _click!_ of snapped fingers; suddenly the lights were on. A young fox sat atop him, smiling charmingly into his face. She had a ravishing black dress on and deep-set brown eyes that stared into him like she knew every little one of his secrets. He gulped again, this time starting to sweat a little.

"Yes, Nick. That's me." She cradled his head in her hands, and Nick felt his cheeks getting hot. "It's been so long. Why haven't you called me?"

"Get off of me!" Nick squirmed in his chair, enough for her to leap off of him and roll her eyes.

"You said you would return, but you never did. I didn't ask for your love, Nick. Just your loyalty." Mellissa, who was now off of him, leaned forward so that their snouts were nearly touching. "Please, Nick, I only want answers. Why did you leave? Really."

"You know why." He muttered under his breath.

She raised her eyebrows and leaned back, holding her hand up slightly. "What was that?"

Nick looked her right in the eyes. "I said 'You know why.'"

Sighing, Mellissa walked around the chair, tracing her claw lightly along his arm, neck, and shoulders. "I really don't know what you're talking about."

Laughing, Nick jolted his shoulder away from her paw. "So, you didn't know when you lied to me? You didn't know when you let me fall in love with you? You didn't even know when you _saw her dead on the ground_." He spit out each consonant like poison.

Suddenly, Mellissa laughed – not softly and sweetly as she usually did, but jarringly and crazily. "Oh, that little bit? I'd completely forgotten." She returned to her smooth, fake self. "But it's all in the past, honey. Come now." Mellissa swiveled around him, grabbing his shoulders. "This is something completely different that we have here."

Nick snarled. "Get. Off. Me."

Mellissa frowned a little bit. "Oh dear. It looks as if I'm not really getting to you. Didn't you just hear me?" She growled and bared her teeth, then slapped him as hard as she could across the face. "It's all in the PAST now!" Her breathing sped up as she stared at him through glossy lenses.

"Mellissa. Calm down. Please." Nick felt that fear come back into his throat. "I'm not the bad guy here."

She laughed, her eye twitching. "Oh, really? Then who is?" She rushed his face, smiling maniacally. "Me?"

Gulping, Nick shook his head. "No, Mellissa, you're not the bad guy. It's just…"

"Well, if we're both not the bad guy…" She returned her composture, but somehow seemed more unhinged than before. "Then it must be someone else, isn't it?"

"What?" Nick was genuinely confused.

She chuckled. "You know exactly who I mean."

Nick slowly shook his head. "No, I really don't."

"I got rid of your mother because she stood in our way." She smiled reminiscently, as if she were remembering a fond memory. Nick cringed. "So I have to get rid of _her_ of course…"

"Her?" Nick's voice cracked. "No. You don't mean…"

Mellissa leaned forward slowly, her eyes focused in on his. "The bunny?" She said slowly, over enunciating everything.

"Don't you dare touch her." Nick flared his snout. "Don't you DARE touch Judy!"

Sighing, Mellissa put her hand slightly up and popped her hip. "You really aren't a smart fox, are you? I was just guessing."

"Please, Mellissa, Judy has nothing to do with this…" Nick pleaded.

She narrowed her eyes at him and leaned forward. "She has _everything_ to do with this."

Nick leaned forward. "Just tell me what you want."

Mellissa thought for a moment. "Ooh, I know. I want to play a game."

His heart skipped a beat. "Oh, sweetheart, you know I don't like games."

"Oh, but if I remember right, you _do_. You played one with my heart, remember?" She laughed cynically.

"Just tell me what it is. I'll play whatever game you want." Nick was holding onto strings.

"Here are the rules. One of Judy's friends is _mine_. I own them. You have three days to figure out who it is, and if you don't stop them, well, goodbye to your little bunny." She traced a tear down her cheek. "So sad."

Nick's heart dropped. "And if I don't agree?"

Mellissa smiled. "Then she doesn't get three more days to live."

Looking down, Nick grinded his teeth together. "Fine. Deal."

"Oh, yay. That is so exciting." She clapped her hands together. "Timer starts... Now!"

Suddenly, a cloth went over his mouth and Nick saw a tunnel of black until there was nothing left.


	5. Flashback - 1

Chapter 5

 **~Nick~ ~Flashback~**

"I hate winter."

Nick raised his eyebrows, turning to Judy. "It's alright, winter hates you."

"Yeah, I know." Judy shivered and pulled her scarf closer to her little pink nose.

"Oh, come on. This is fun!" Nick pushed her a little bit, causing her to go off the sidewalk and right into a pile of snow. The she made in the snow was spread-eagled and almost comical.

Chuckling, Nick mumbled, "Do you like winter any better?"

Slowly, Judy emerged from the bank, slowly turning to face him, with her front all snow. "You're going to regret that, fox."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Oh, sure. That's really cute, Carr—" Faster than he could finish his sentence, He felt a snowball hit him across the face. "It's going down, Judy."

He picked up a pile of snow and, faster than lightning, created a sturdy snowball that was, in his mind, the perfect snowball. Nick didn't have time to honor his work, however; Judy was just as fast making her snowball.

As if in slow motion, Nick threw his arm back and pitched the snowball as hard as he could at Judy's arm. She squealed and fell over, her snowball in hand, chucking it at his face as she hit the ground. Nick gasped and wiped the snow out of his eyes from Judy's surprisingly accurate hit.

"Now you've really done it, Jude!" He knelt down on the ground, grabbing a handful of snow and shoving it in her face. She screamed, laughing and trying not to swallow the snow. "Snow Dog!" Nick yelled, laughing so hard as Judy tried to quickly wipe the snow off her face that he fell over on top of her, kicking his legs from her futile attempts to push him off of her.

Judy groaned and stopped struggling. "Fine. You win. Just get off of me."

"Nope!" Nick simply lay there, trapping her in the freezing snow.

"We're going to be late to Clauhausser's birthday party, silly. And soaking wet!"

Nick slowly raised himself on his hands, his face right above hers. "Do you think he will care if we show up wet to his birthday party?"

"Well, his mom might be mad. They live in a penthouse down in the rainforest district." She raised her eyebrows.

Nick rolled his eyes. "I can talk my way out of it, just like any other situation."

"You think that you can, but you rarely can. _I'm_ usually the one who gets us out of situations." Judy grinned slyly.

Nick thought for a moment. "Sure, then you'll be able to talk us out of it." He looked down at her glowing face and smiled back at her. "You're really good at that."

She raised her eyebrows. "Are you being serious right now? Or just joking around."

"Not, I'm being serious." He rolled to the side and sat next to her as she rose, hugging her knees to her chest.

Judy smiled. "You're good at a lot of things, Nick."

Nick's heart leapt. "Like what? Stealing stuff? Making good jokes?"

"Well, those things." Judy laughed. "But you're also good at being a friend and always being there for me. I seriously appreciate it."

"Judy… I always want to be there for you." Nick turned to her, locking eyes. They stared at each other for a second and Nick's heart fluttered as it had never done before. He felt the sudden urge to kiss her, to just hold her there.

Judy smiled. "Thanks, Nick. You know I love you." She winked. Did she really mean it? Or was it a friend kind of thing. Nick broke the eye contact and looked at his feet. Definitely just a friend thing. And if he did kiss her, what would Grandma think? She hated prey. She would never approve. Never. A sudden surge of anger rose in his throat. Why did she hate prey? It was ridiculous. Just because they couldn't have kids didn't mean anything. For the first time in his life, Nick was truly confused with Grandma. He'd always accepted what she said without a question. But now… he found himself falling for a girl who wasn't a fox. And it was completely okay. It was so, utterly acceptable and she never realized it.

Turning back to Judy, Nick smiled. "I love you too, Carrots." He leaned in a bit, wanting to kiss her so bad.

"Hey! What're you doing?!" The two jumped, turning around. A grumpy looking hedgehog stood in the doorway of the lawn they were sitting on. "Get off my lawn!"

They hurried up, brushing off all the snow and walking speedily away, then, once out of earshot, burst out laughing.

"That hedgehog looked like he was going to roll down and spike us himself!" Judy laughed, holding her cold cheeks. "He was so cute and little!"

"Yeah," Nick said, breathily. But his mind was really somewhere else.


	6. It's a Date?

**I haven't updated in seriously forever! I'm so sorry, you guys! I've just been super busy. No excuse, buuuttt a little bit of an excuse.**

 **I'll try and be more on time to keep you guys updated. What's going to happen? Oooohh spooky.**

 **On another note, please, please PLEASE do NOT write mean reviews on here, or on any piece of fanfiction, really. Even if it's the worst crap you've read in your life, someone has spent their time and energy to write that. It is totally fine for constructive criticism, but it really hurts an author to completely tear apart their work. I do like a little bit of that constructive criticism thing, but seriously, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all (Bambi quote, lame, I know, but it applies most of the time). That goes with other author's stuff, too. Just be nice. Don't put people down, and we'll all get along just swell. Sometimes an author's style isn't what you'd like. If a story isn't for you, just don't read the rest of it and don't put other people down. It doesn't help anyone.**

 **Thank you and love you all!**

 **~Believe Unique~**

Chapter 6

 **~Judy~**

The woman at the counter stared blankly at Judy, who seemed a million times shorter than the giraffe. "You want to go to Sahara Square?"

"Yes, please." Judy replied impatiently. She must've told her at least three or four times.

Nodding slowly, the giraffe pointed to the left. "You've got to go down to station four and take the D train to Downtown. Is that clear?"

"Crystal!" Judy hurried away and entered the dark subway platform. It was dark, gross, and all around creepy, one reason she always avoided them. But they were fastest way to get around in Zootopia, so Judy just always dealt with it.

To the corner, an old, shaggy wolf sat, barely still alive, or at least sleeping. He looked disgusting, but somehow Judy found it in herself to feel pity for him. She rummaged around in her pockets for a second and found a couple of coins, placing them in the empty bucket by his leg. Smiling, she started walking away, but not before something grabbed her leg.

The wolf had grabbed her leg and was looking savagely up at her. He pulled her to the ground and growled at her, his eyes bloodshot as if he wasn't completely there. With surprising agility, he crawled on top of her, and Judy screamed, but not for help. She kicked his stomach, propelling him off of her. He stumbled back as Judy rose to her feet. But he didn't stop there. Reaching for her, he grabbed her leg once more, but Judy stepped on his arm with her other foot. He howled and retracted his arm, making it possible for Judy to kick him square in the middle of the head. Squeeling, the wolf started crawling away, but didn't have a chance to get anywhere before Judy leaned back, getting ready, and roundhouse kicking him right in the temple. The homeless wolf whimpered and then fell to the ground, out cold.

As soon as she saw that the danger was gone, Judy started shaking. If she hadn't been a police officer and knew how to defend herself… Well, she didn't want to think about what would have happened. _If I was on duty…_ she thought to herself.

"Wow! Are you a superhero or something?" Looking up, Judy saw a little bunny running towards her, a huge grin on his face.

Judy stopped shaking and smiled at him. "Me? Oh, I'm not a superhero."

The boy stopped in front of her. "Then how do you know all those cool moves? You totally beat up that guy!"

Chuckling, Judy crouched down to meet him at eye level. "I'll tell you a secret, alright?" She looked around to make sure nobody was looking. "I'm a superhero, but not the kind you'd see every day. I'm a cop, but it's a secret, alright? This is my secret identity."

The boy nodded seriously. "I'll keep it until the day I die."

A laughing sounded from behind the boy, and Judy looked up. And adult rabbit was smiling and sauntering towards them. He had dark brown fur with one white ear, and intelligent blue eyes hidden underneath glasses. Judy stopped for a second, simply staring at him. The rabbit was definitely very good looking in a casual genius sort of way. _No, if this is his son he's obviously married._ Smiling, she stood up and kind of half-waved at him.

"Hello, sorry about this." She motioned at the wolf lying on the subway floor.

The rabbit shook his head. "Don't even worry about it." He extended his left hand. "Harrison Thumper."

Judy looked down and shook his hand. "Judy Hopps."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Harrison leaned back and pointed at her. "Are you… do I know you?"

"Uh, well, I did help solve the disappearing mammals case a while ago. But that was almost a year ago." Judy smiled sheepishly. She got that a lot.

Shaking his head, Harrison sighed. "No, I don't think so. Where did you grow up?"

"Bunnyburrow," Judy replied, confused. There weren't a lot of people who lived in the city from Bunyburrow.

Thinking, Harrison sighed. "No, that's not where."

"Probably the case then," Judy nodded at him. "It was _kind_ of a big deal." She groaned internally at her own words. "Not that I'm really a big deal, just that, you know, it was all over the news, and I was in the News a lot…" _Stop talking, just stop talking right now. You're digging yourself a hole. There's no escaping. Just stop it right now._ "So, what's your son's name?" _Better._

Harrison looked down at the little boy, who also had brown fur, though his eyes were a dark brown. "This is Drew. He's actually not my _technical_ son. He's my sister's, but, well, she isn't really around anymore to take care of him."

"Oh, that's awful." _Why do I always just say the wrong thing?_ "Do you just take care of him yourself?" _Maybe this will change the subject enough_.

Nodding, Harrison smiled and patted Drew's head. "Yep, ever since he was just a baby."

"Wow, that's amazing. I don't think I could ever take care of a child by myself. Too dedicated to my work, you know?" Judy smiled, though she didn't feel very confident inside. _You've killed it, Judy. You've killed the conversation_.

But despite her doubt, Harrison simply laughed. "I understand. I'm actually a researcher at Beast Laboratories, but I always have time for this guy." He smothered Drew's shoulder with his paw in a very paternal way.

"Well, that's great. Sorry to break the tension, but I actually have to go. I have a nail appointment in about 30 minutes down at Sahara Square and I really don't want to miss it."

Harrison nodded knowingly. "It's alright, I understand."

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Harrison." Judy started walking away backwards, adjust her purse. "And you too, Drew."

Drew waved. "Bye, Judy! I'll miss you!"

Chuckling, Judy turned around, but not before she was stopped. "Wait!" Harrison called from behind her, running up to her from behind.

Judy turned around and raised her eyebrows. "Yeah?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you'd want to go on a date with me tonight. I have tickets to go see a play on Birdway. I know it's on short notice, but…"

Judy didn't even let him finish. "Yeah!" She realised her hastiness and coughed, trying to calm her voice. "Uh, yeah. I'd love to go."

Harrison grinned widely. "That's great, Judy. Can I get your number?." He pulled out a small card-sized paper from his shirt front pocket, as well as a pen.

"Sure thing." Judy took the paper and wrote down her furPhone number on it. "See you later, I guess."

Smiling happily, Harrison nodded. "Yeah, I guess I will see you later. See you later, Judy." And with that, he walked away, leaving Judy feeling elated.


	7. Just Protecting You

Chapter 7

 **~Judy~**

Looking in the mirror, Judy twirled around. She didn't have very many fancy clothes, and her dress style was maybe a little bit 'hick' as people would call it. The dress she was wearing tonight was, as usual, very simple. A yellow sundress with little blue cornflowers, as well as a long-sleeved cardigan in blue. Her nails looked nice from her appointment (she'd decided on red), and she didn't regret skipping work at all. It had landed her a date with a _super_ hot, single, scientist with a cute kid. What more could she ask for?

Judy glanced at the clock and groaned. It was 5:12, eighteen minutes before Harrison was supposed to pick her up, and she still had to do her makeup. Sitting down at the desk, she started applying a light amount of makeup. She hadn't gotten very far when suddenly, her door burst open. Quick as lightning, Judy ripped open her desk drawer and pulled out a gun, swiveling around in her chair and pointing it at the perpetrator.

Standing there was a familiar fox, wearing a pair of sunglasses and raising his hands.

"Nick!" Judy ran to him, hugging him round the middle. "Where in the heck have you been?"

He pushed Judy away from him forcibly and closed the door, locking it, not saying anything.

Judy was taken aback by his distant behavior. "Nick? What's wrong?"

"You can't leave." Nick turned back to her, taking off his sunglasses to show worried eyes. "Judy, you don't understand, but you just can't leave right now."

Laughing, Judy crossed her arms. "What is that supposed to mean, Nick? You're acting really weird."

Pacing back and forth, Nick again didn't answer. "No, I'm acting fine."

"Are you still sick?" Judy walked up to him and felt his forehead, but he just swatted it away. "Hey! What's wrong with you?"

Nick grabbed her hands and leaned close to her, his eyes full of worry. "Please listen to me. I can't tell you why, but don't leave the house. Something could happen to you, Judy."

Ripping her hands out of his grip, Judy backed away. "I'm sorry, but that can't happen today." She went back to her desk to finish her makeup and put the gun down. "I have a date."

"A _date_?!" Nick asked, shocked, but for a different reason. His heart throbbed with jealousy.

Turning angrily, Judy furrowing her eyebrows. "Yes, a _date_. I have a life, you know."

"Well, why didn't you tell me?" Nick asked, still shocked.

Exasperated, Judy yelled, "Because you weren't answering your phone, Nick! Do you have any idea how worried I was?" She closed her eyes and softened her expression. "Plus, I don't know why _you_ have to get mixed up in my personal life like this. You should be happy for me!"

Nick gulped. "I… I am happy for you. I really am." The feeling in his chest wouldn't go away.

"Good. So, as you can see, I can't just stay in my room and not go out." Judy finished her last layer of lipstick, turning to Nick, this time more concerned. "Are you drunk?"

"What? No! I haven't drunk anything since last night." He crossed his arms and then realized his mistake.

"Oh, _thank you_ for telling me. I thought we'd talked about this yesterday." Judy threw her hands in the air and stood up, going to grab her purse.

Nick opened his mouth to say something, but words wouldn't come out.

"My date is going to be here soon. You should probably go." She glared at him.

Nick bit his lip. "At least take the gun."

"Fine." Judy stormed to the desk and shoved her gun into her purse. "Happy?"

Nodding, Nick started for the door, his heart and brain a complete mess. But before he could reach it, the doorbell rang.

Judy rushed to the door and opened it, revealing Harrison, who was casually standing with his hands in his pockets. "Hey, Judy. You ready to -" He stopped when he saw Nick. "Um, hello. Who is this?"

"Sorry, he was just leaving." Judy glared at Nick. He nodded and sulked out of the door and down the hall.

Harrison returned to his normal smile. "Shall we go, then?" He extended his elbow for her to take in a very gentlemanly way.

Nodding, Judy locked her arm in his. "Of course." She smiled, but in reality she wasn't thinking about the date at all.

 _What's wrong, with Nick?_


	8. Two Days

Chapter 8

 **~Nick~**

 _I can't believe that my life has turned to this_. Nick walked down the dark street, his hands in his pockets. His fight with Judy ran through his head. _I'm so stupid. Why did I do that?_ Maybe if he tried harder to keep her out of harm…

 _No._ Judy was too much of a free spirit. She would do whatever she wanted, unless Nick told her about Melissa. But he couldn't tell her about that, not until Melissa was not around, which would be never, with their track record and everything.

The last twenty four hours went through Nick's mind. After he'd left the house last night, he'd gone to the bar, but only had one or two drinks. As he was leaving, however, he'd been ambushed and, despite his valiant effort, was knocked unconscious by two big, ugly black bears. And then, of course, was Melissa. She had interrogated him sometime during the night, and he'd woken up the next morning, in the alley next to the bar due to a lion waiter hitting him over the head with his broom and telling him to 'scram'. He'd wandered around, concerned about Judy for a couple of hours and then, realizing he only had two days left for Judy, rushed over to her apartment, and that turned out horribly.

He kicked a can on the side of the street and felt a drop of rain fall onto his long, red snout. After the winter incident, he thought that there might be some hope for him and Judy, some kind of spark. _Of course, you stupid idiot, she's only interested in bunnies. You're a fox._ Angrily, Nick kicked a fire hydrant and gasped, his foot hurting immensely. He hobbled a little bit around until he could walk again, his mood lowering even more. _What is wrong with me?_

Finally, he arrived at his home, the tall, brown townhouse that stuck awkwardly in the 'ghetto' part of town. At least Judy lived closer to work. He groggily went to the front door and walked in, the bright light hitting him. Grandma was sitting at the table in the dining room, reading the paper. _Her favorite pastime_ , thought Nick as he was making his way to the kitchen, trying not to make eye contact with her because, in fact, her other favorite pastime was complaining about modern issues. And maybe Nick just liked to argue, but he usually didn't agree with _anything_ his grandmother said.

"Thank you for greeting your grandmother, Nicholas." She called from the table.

Closing his eyes so as to not snap at her, Nick put on a fake smile and turned to her from the fridge. " _Hello_ Gran. I'm home."

"Better." She returned to the paper.

"Hey, where's Emme?" Asked Nick, furrowing his eyebrows.

Putting down the paper, Gran turned to him, looking quite annoyed. "Emmeline's in her room. She was upset yesterday after you didn't come home, and she's worried. Frankly, I was, too. You left last night and didn't come home. Do you know half of the things that happens to police officers?" She pointed her claw down to the newspaper on the table. "Because _I_ do. I read about it every single day in the paper." With that, she picked up the newspaper and flicked it to straighten it out.

 _Because, as a police officer, I don't hear about my friends dying all the time._ Luckily, he didn't say this out loud. He thought that if he did, Gran might have a heart attack from her anger. Instead, he simply walked out of the room and up the stairs, going into his little sister's room.

"Emmeline," He called into the dark room. She was on her bed, with her favorite stuffed wolf clutched in her arms. Nick could tell that she was fast asleep, so he crept over to her desk, the room only lit by a open door. He pulled out a piece of paper from her desk, as well as a pen, and wrote in large letters:

 _Emme,_

 _I'm back home, don't worry about me._

 _Have a good day at school tomorrow, I hope you pass your spelling test. You studied so hard for it_

 _Lots of Love,_

 _Nick_

Placing the paper on her desk, he silently walked out of the room and closed the door quietly behind him.

"At least Melissa hasn't hunted you down." He shivered at the thought of his sister being a target of hers.

Creeping up the stairs, Nick finally reached his room, which was on the third floor. It was small, but cozy, with a full sized bed in the center, complete with the little lights that had hung from the four posters since he was a little kid. His stuffed bunny lay on top of the desk he had in the corner. Nick's favorite part of the room, though, was the window. It was a bench window that overlooked part of the city, and he would sometimes sit there and read or just think about things. He'd spent a lot of time there, especially after his mother had died.

But tonight, instead of going to the window, he went straight to bed, flopping onto it. He was so tired that he almost missed the message painted all over the ceiling.

Almost.

Sitting up, Nick felt sick, the words imprinted clearly in his mind. He sat on the edge of the bed, ready to vomit.

 _2 Days, Nick._

 _~M_


	9. Wink

**Wow! Yesterday was seriously a chapter BOMB. Sorry if your notifications totally blew up, but I hadn't worked on it in a while. I felt like you guys deserved it. Thanks for being patient and staying loyal to "Try Everything"!**

 **I'm super excited for today's chapter. As always, please review (nothing mean, but yes, constructive).**

Chapter 9

Harrison opened the door, extending his hand for Judy. She politely took it, ducking on her way out of the taxi door. He shut the door behind her and the cab pulled away, leaving them standing under the lights of the Birdway theater.

"What show are we seeing?" Judy politely asked as they started walking along the busy night street. Animals rushed alongside them, not noticing anything but themselves or their destination.

Pulling a couple of tickets out of his pockets, Harrison furrowed crossed his eyebrows. "It's called 'The Phantom of the Otter'. Do you know of it?"

Her eyes widening, Judy gasped, looking at the tickets in his hands. "You have got to be kidding me! I _love_ that show! I used to sing to it all the time in High School! I was even in theater as a kid."

"Really? That's pretty cool." Harrison had to look down at her to speak, seeing as Judy was a lot shorter than him. He had a casual suit on, with a blue bow tie. Judy actually felt under dressed in her flower-patterned country dress, standing next to this very sophisticated rabbit next to her. Straightening up, she tried to meet his level, but she knew that, in fact, he was much better looking than her. _Why did he ask_ me _on the date?_ Judy pushed aside the thought and just tried to focus on having fun that evening.

Nodding, Judy smiled again. "Yeah, but I was never any good at it. I always knew I would be a police officer."

"That's a very bold move, seeing as you're a bunny." Harrison looked her straight in the eyes. "I like that."

Judy's heart thumped as if someone had hit her in the chest with a baseball hat. "Uh, well, thank you. A lot of people told me I couldn't do it but, well," she sheepishly grinned. "Here we are."

"Yes, here we are." Harrison stopped in front of a theater, and Judy realized they were _actually_ there. She skipped back to him, hoping he wouldn't notice that she'd walked a couple of steps farther than him.

They didn't have to wait long to get in, and once they'd found their seats, Judy realized just how close they were sitting. It made her heart beat like a bird's wings, making her head all fuzzy. She stared up at his face for a minute, wondering how or why he had asked _her_ on this date. It just didn't make any sense. She was a poor little cop, and he was a smart scientist with a life and something to live for.

"Judy?"

In a flash, Judy realized that she had been staring at him for quite some time now. "Uh, yes, Harrison?"

"Are you alright? I just asked you whether you wanted me to go get some popcorn." Harrison stared concernedly at her.

Shaking her head, Judy smiled. "Oh… I think I'll get some. It'll be good to stretch my legs."

"But we've only been sitting for a minute. Are you sure you're okay?" Harrison reached out his paw and touched her arm, sending a shockwave through her body.

"I'll be fine," Judy got up suddenly, reaching down and grabbing her purse which had just fallen out of her lap. She crossed in front of the seats and started up the aisle to the back of the auditorium.

"Two - no, one popcorn, please." Judy placed her money on the counter and looked to the side, where something caught her eyes. A black figure was lurking in the corner by the exit, simply standing there.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Judy stepped forwards, looking at the strange figure. It moved out, and she realized it was a dark, silky fox in a little white dress. And she was looking straight at Judy. The woman smiled maliciously and winked, walking right out of the exit and around the corner.

"Wait!" Judy ran at the exit and looked to her left, where the fox had gone. But the woman was suddenly nowhere to be seen.

"Ma'am, your popcorn." Turning around, Judy looked up at the elephant who was serving her.

She walked back to the counter. "Sorry, I was distracted."

"I could tell." He handed her the popcorn. "Enjoy the show."

"Thank you, sir." Judy headed back to her seat, but she couldn't help but think about the woman. It seemed like she had seen her before, and it didn't help that she had _winked_ at her.

"You decided to get one?" Judy looked down at Harrison, who was smiling up at her. "Not that I mind, I enjoy sharing."

"Y-yeah, me too!" Judy sat down and handed him the bucket as the lights dimmed.

 _Just ignore it and have a good night. It was probably nothing._ But deep, deep inside her soul, Judy knew that it wasn't nothing. And she also knew that she was going to find out who this woman was, if it was the last thing she did.


End file.
